Placed any orders so far?

Moccasin(z9aMobileAL)January 28, 2013

Question might be premature, if you are waiting for the Zed part of our Hosta Alphabet to arrive, but don't wait too long. Tell me what you plan on acquiring.

This morning I could not wait any longer, since the deadline for some discounts is fast approaching. Several hosta were chosen because of the pictures in the alphabet, or other remarks about how well they grow for folks.

I broke down and called Wade Gatton Nurseries, and glory be, talked to Van Wade himself. I stuttered until I regained my composure--I expected to chat with Robin, the daughter-in-law.

You people are adding a lot! I have no more space.
I just bought H.'Millenium', 'Holy Mole' and 'Yellow River' from Land of the Giants Hosta Farm, expect parts of large plants which will grow nice already this year, as I did last year. So when I see more space this spring, after I place my seedlings, I will possibly buy more then. I do not overwinter any in containers. Plus I will get a free 'Church Mouse'.
Bernd

This is the year of tough spots. I'm only ordering plants for spots where hosta won't grow. I ordered an epimedium and a sedum from Plants Delights that no one else had and some how a hosta, Ocean Isle, got on my order. Luckily I have just the spot for it.

I also am champing at the bit here. I have one small order placed, but I need to wait to see what survived the digging/trampling mongrel horde, drought, and whatever. I am, however, cruising catalogues and dog-earing pages! We are supposed to hit 70 degrees here on Wednesday after the 20s this weekend. That will get me thinking spring, for sure!

You are all so much better about knowing the names of all your hosta. I tried labels, but the dogs...I do have a few that survived out front, but I just can't seem to keep track. *sigh*

gardenj.. I have got two large orders from Novia Scotia sent to BC from Fundy Beauties. The plants I got were all mature multistem clumps( from their fall sales) and all were shipped in moss and fresh as when they were sent. It is a flat rate no matter how large an order for freight and I had them sent on the bus for a bit extra. The prices include the taxes too. Pat is a great guy to deal with and if any problems he gets right onto it and makes it right!

Unforgettable, yes! I also intend to order Dick Ward, also influenced by pictures of your plant. Green Mountain has 'em for 8 bucks each, and I intend to add these two, plus El Capitan and American Halo.

Sorry, I have been absent for most of the alphabet. I have been busier than expected with my orchids this year. A lot of re-potting and my Phals are in FULL bloom. I have close to 70 individual flowers and it is beyond exciting. I check in periodically to see all of the lovely hosta you all are sharing through the alphabet and am inspired (as always).

Here are the three orders I have placed for Spring 2013. (All set to arrive sometime in May)

I'm waiting for the last week of May to score $5 hostas from a private grower in the next town. She has an annual sale and I discovered it for the first time last year after just moving to the area. Unfortunately though, I'm not the only one there (!!) so it's a zoo loading up your dolly. No time to really browse and see what's there - it's pretty much GRAB AND GO! I bought 16 from her last season because that's all I could fit on the dolly. I was very happy with ALL of them, they're potted up in 1 gallon pots, plenty of eyes and by that time their leaves are out and you can get a sense of the colours, sizes. This time around, I'll get husband to fill up his own cart and it'll be a surprise to me what catches his non-gardening eye!

But with catalogues arriving in the mail lately, it's just too tempting NOT to order something, right? Of course I'll also make in-person trips to local hosta growers as soon as their doors open in order to shrink my ever-growing lust list!

No order here- I have a friend who has offered to let me take divisions from his garden, and will wait to see what I get there before ordering. His sister is a hostaholic and has filled his yard with her excess plants. Then there will be trips to Flying Frog, In the Country, and Dawn's Bloomer's, plus three local hosta sales. Often I see something exciting and the want list changes.

OMG GARDENJ76!! YES Innerkip! What are the odds you'd know about that, holy cow! Warning: I'm small but I'm tough. I got there at 8 am last year - that's the time they said they would start selling - and the owners bowed to the pressure of the crowds and started selling at 7 am!!! This year I'm setting my alarm to 6. See ya there!

In March we will have Festival of Flowers which I really enjoy attending....and buying plants from there. Of course, no hosta that I've observed in the past, but who knows. Maybe one day the extreme south will be the greatest untapped market in the whole country, and I--and Paula and BKay among others--will have been the pioneers. My grandma would be proud of me.

Like Hostanista, I've killed a few orchids, just have not the touch that Ludi does. I wind up giving mine to a botanist friend in a last minute reprieve of their death sentence.

gardenj76: At barely 5'2" I'll need a ladder just to get to your knees. And if the 76 in your name has anything to do with the year you were born.....sheeesh, I've got a full 20 years on ya. You wouldn't trample a little old lady, would ya?

Don, from Bridgewood I ordered different hosta than you did, but most of them were still in good shape at the end of the season.

One gorgeous The Razor's Edge succumbed to southern blight, a disease of opportunity encountered in my garden, and I quickly replaced it with another, also from Bridgewood. Of my fragrant hosta, I ordered Fried Bananas, Fried Green Tomatoes, Guacamole, and Sugar Babe (which Solberg says is the smallest fragrant of all). Then I got Angel From Montgomery, Moon Struck, Short Fat Fannie, Squash Casserole, Golden Tiara, and the species longissima.

They were some of my first arrivals and I "learned" on them, with good results considering my inexperience. Hopefully my luck continues this year. Same as you, I test the water before diving in. :)

I get some from Fundy Beauties, but I go divide them myself when I'm there. I get everything locally or when I visit Quebec. There's some on my "list" for the coming years I know I'll eventually have to mail order, but I always get them in person if I can...

Hi Moccasinlanding; thanks, good to know Bridgewood has good plants. I have a Sugar Babe from NH Hostas, but it was dormant when I got it so I haven't seen it yet. I've gotten great plants from there, so I'm sure it'll look just fine in a few months.

Gee, you guys are way ahead of me. I haven't made any final decisions yet except for one. I'm getting RAINBOW's END for SURE as early as I can. Nurseries here were out of it by the time I arrived to purchase last year.

I'm doing a bit more planning this year than in the past.. no impulse buys.. unless it's my birthday, Mother's Day or ME day. One of my rules is that I can't buy it unless I know where it's going and I want to keep my list down to thirty. By the time we got to the Alphabet R my LIKE list was up to 200. I've narrowed the list down to 80 so far BUT am also adding because the alphabet hasn't finished. And then I subtracted from that list those that were too expensive or unavailable in town at the three Garden Centers that I frequent the most:
Budd Gardens has revised their list for 2013. They are offering a 10% discount on 5 hostas or more. (Don Budd has a beautiful hosta collection himself.) Rideau Woodland Ramble's and Whitehouse Perennial's 2013 list hasn't been revised yet.

So now I'm at 50 hostas. I noticed that I have some empty spaces around some of my hostas and if I juggle a few things around I can probably accomodate a few larger ones such as...
SPARTACUS
LAKESIDE CINDY CEE
ALLIGATOR SHOES
ARC DE TRIOMPHE
SIMPLY SHARON

I'd love to add KOMODO DRAGON but I have Queen of the Seas.

My other choices will be small and medium sized hostas. The choices will depend on how they will complement the other hostas that they are going to be near. To that end I've prepared a table with plant size and descriptions of hostas that I've pasted from various websites.

Edited because I meant to tell Ludisia that her orchids are gorgeous... one of my favorite indoor plants. I'd love to plant some of the hardy varieties in my garden that survive my zone 5... that may happen only in another lifetime.

Just placed an order for a 'mature' (6-8 eye) H.'Julia' from the Hosta Patch. Don't know anything about this store. I love hosta from the 'F. Hyacinthina' family tree, so 29 bucks w/shipping doesn't seem like too much of a gamble for my budding 'Fortunei Family Forest' :)

I haven't ordered yet, was waiting til Fundy's had updated their list which was done yesterday. Now to check it out and decide just what I want to order. Think I'll also go over to Riverbend and get some.

Irawon, sounds like you are balancing the budget and justifying a few more hosta in the process. You are way way more organized than I. Watch out for those ME days...be ready when they come.

DonB in C....I have Julia from last year, was not expensive but don't recall exactly how much or where it came from and at the moment my thumb drive with the hosta info is in my Windpad not this computer. I got two f. hyacinthina from different sources, they looked totally different, so I wait for the eyes to pip and see if they remain different this year too.

Moccasinlanding, ever ordered from Hornbaker? I'm looking at their 10 bucks and under Hosta and liking what I see in terms of inventory...Wow, Hosta is like crack or heroin or some really addictive substance...But there are no treatment programs, because...

Oh Don, how true how true! No treatment can cure your ills.Got a bad case of luuuuuvin' HOSTA.
I read your post to my DH, and he asks if you've seen a picture of our "back forty" where all the hosta live.....he saw them for the first time as tipped pots, he last saw a modest amount when he departed for points north late in May.

And yes, I've ordered several times from Hornbaker. In March, April, July, and August last year. A bunch of my fragrant hosta came from them, like Holy Mole, Iron Gate Delight, Summer Fragrance, Miss Saigon, Moonlight Sonata, plantaginea #6 I think it was, Royal Standard (2 extras). Then I replaced the beloved The Razor's Edge which succumbed to southern blight, at $15 it was the third highest priced purchase....exceeded by Faith at $18 and Holy Mole at $20. Julia (you found a multiple eyed version elsewhere) came from Hornbaker and it was $10. My #2 Satisfaction plus other distinguised hosta came from there--The Shining, Zounds, Niagara Falls, Faith, kinbotan, Yin, Royal Flush, and small Sweet Tater Pie along with some really smalls such as Bitsy Gold, Glass Heart, Chartreuse Wiggles, TotTot, Little White Lines....I think that's about all.

All of mine were in containers, and the really SMALL pots tended to dry out much quicker than the larger ones, so I've been clustering them in larger pots to avoid death by dessication.

I'm not an experienced buyer, just have one year under my belt. But I'd say Hornbaker can supply the well known hosta reliably, not familiar with their complete catalog or if it might include new releases.

If you have not purchased THE HOSTA FINDER, it might be a good tool to have on hand. The new edition is coming out this month...it is an annual pub...and I'm waiting for my updated version to arrive around the 13th. Well worth the $20 bucks to know all the listed nurseries who sell a particular hosta. Saves a lot of flipping back and forth.

Moccasin, this is just a thought and perhaps someone knows why this is not a good idea. Could you not put some of your hostas that are in smaller pots into a larger pot containing some water at the bottom as this would supply the roots in the smaller pots with water and the evaporation in the heat would mist the leaves preventing dessication. Just a thought.

In the short run this would work. However, roots need air and they won't get any in the water. After a while, they will rot. So its a nice strategy for a long weekend when you know you won't get to water them but not regularly.

Another one in the NEngland area that sells 1 and 2-gallon sizes on some of their hosta, is linked below. I got from them last year My Friend Nancy 1 gallon, and a new favorite, Smooth Sailing. It is worth taking a look if you want some hosta closer to mature. Shipped bare root, of course.

I can only say, hosta people I've encountered in phone conversations and emails, are always cordial and hospitable, willing to take the time to help. I always like doing business when I can feel a smile 1,000 miles distant.

Probably not half as much as you would miss the hosta, should the choice be reversed, right? :)

My strategy now, since the jig is up, he is home and can SEE I have "more than 120 hosta", is to involve him in growing the seedlings. If hosta seeds were the size of nasturtium seeds, I and every kindergarten kid in the world could poke em in the ground and bring forth beauties.

Steve, now THOSE are some fine nasturtiums! DH knows of the museum, of course, but we missed it on our visit to Museum of Fine Arts, very close by. There are too many great spots to see to cover Boston in one trip. When we return, it will be as tourists and not residents.....presuming DH's home sells quickly.

I wish I had some room. I would happily add more but my little lot is just about full and the wife won't let me remove the rest of the sod. She says I have a "problem". What could she be talking about? Hmmmmm...

Does the fall order of 27 new ones count as last year or this year? I would say last years as I found about 30 plus new ones for this year that I want so yes I would think they don't count even if I never really saw them in their true splendor. I am sure you all will see the logic in that statement!

I did most of my ordering and planting last fall so I didn't place any spring orders, wanting my new plants to be well settled in before a possible drought again this summer. It has been too hard to keep new spring-planted babies alive for the last two years.

But I don't count the hosta society auction plants or the ones coming in at the nursery this spring, and I know I have to have some of those. So even tho I didn't order any, I am sure I'll wind up with about the same amount anyway......plus whatever I fiind at the local nurseries.

growlove, there were several postings about 'Empress Wu' on this forum. It will become a very very large hosta up to 48 inches tall with super big 28x25 inch leaves. Ours is only 36 inches tall after being in the ground 3 years last fall. Mine liked bright shade, burned in sun. Have fun! Bernd

I will evaluate my needs in late May after the hostas and other shade plants have emerged. At that point I will decide what I would like to add based on foliage colour and mature size. Then I will visit the two suppliers and talk to the owners - both owners are experienced and knowledgeable hosta growers - before buying potted plants. I get to see what I am buying.